The poem begins with a very ordinary task: getting a motorbike running. But the speaker describes it with real care. He wipes away dust, crow droppings and sticky oil, turns the key, checks the light, and presses the kicker in two stages, pausing before the final firm kick. Then he listens as the engine catches and settles into its steady thud. The words "intimacy" and "almost love" show how much the speaker values this small ritual.
In the last stanza the poem turns inward. The speaker wakes in the morning, reluctant to leave his dreams, and listens to his own breath much as he listened to the engine. Here he admits something: he wishes he approached his life with the same deliberateness and awareness. The mood is quiet and gently wistful. There is no anger or despair, just a thoughtful longing to give his own days the attention he gives a machine.